RFID systems including tags, also known as transponders, and readers, are being deployed in order to track objects for a variety of purposes. This can include tracking of objects in a warehouse or retail environment to determine where objects are and to insure that the product flow from factory to consumer is adequate and optimized. The advent of RFID will allow tracking of individual items based not only on product code but also on individual numbers. This opens up a multitude of possibilities for increasing the efficiency of shipping and sales of customer goods as well as tracking theft in various fields.
The multitude of objects to be read, especially in the retail environment, also creates numerous problems related to the tracking of those items. For example, it will be possible with RFID technology to read all of the items in a store such as a retail outlet or grocery store. The large number of items in a store results in difficulties in organizing that information and in tracking particular items as they leave the shelves. As an example, a store may wish to track high-value items that may be stolen but will have to determine what those items are based on movement of all items within the store. This can lead to tremendous bottlenecks in data processing and can overwhelm servers and the computers that are called upon to do such filtering.
As a specific example of the data processing problems that arise in RFID, the EPC code that has been agreed upon by the industry is a 96-bit code which includes the manufacturing company code, an SKU code, and a unique ID number for that particular item. The advent of these EPC codes allows, in theory, the tracking of all items but, in reality, tracking of items even within the store becomes a data processing nightmare. Furthermore, if the store wishes to track items that have arrived at a particular store or are being taken off the shelves after having arrived from a particular transport system, it will be necessary to go back to a centralized database to compare those EPC codes with the data history for those particular items. This can be particularly processor intensive and under some circumstances may be impossible based on the need to retrieve data from multiple databases in real-time while an object is being moved through the store or warehouse.
For at least these reasons, there is a need for a system which is able to better filter and track items containing RFID codes such as EPC codes.